This story was originally published by Popular Information, the author’s substack publication. Subscribe here. Jared Kushner’s efforts to negotiate an end to the Iran War are not going well. But he is only moonlighting as one of the Trump administration’s top diplomats. Kushner is also having problems at his day job as the founder of Affinity Partners, a […]
'Did you tell Pulte you were gonna punch him in the face?' Senator Thom Tillis, an North Carolina Republican, asked Bessent.
Senate Republicans are bracing for an end-of-week slog of votes as tension continues to build with the Trump White House, Punchbowl News reported on Thursday morning.Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) face "a marathon of twisting arms and whipping votes on two pieces of legislation that have little in common" other than the fact that "Trump has made passing them much harder than it needed to be," said the report — namely, the passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorization, and the Homeland Security reconciliation package to fund immigration enforcement.The "heartburn" Republicans face, per the report, is that Trump has complicated all of this by demanding $1 billion for "security" for his White House ballroom project, something the GOP has finally rejected outright; introduced and backed off the "Anti-Weaponization Fund" which has forced Senate Republicans to consider banning it directly in their legislation; and nominating his unqualified and highly partisan housing finance chief Bill Pulte to serve as Director of National Intelligence, which has caused Democrats to threaten a boycott of FISA.The weaponization fund alone has created additional pain points by causing some Republicans to demand a formal ban on the fund in the reconciliation as a condition for their vote, with Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) saying, “We need to take action here. It’s creating headwinds that we don’t need. If we’ve got the acting AG saying it’s done, then let’s just stick a fork in it.”Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), meanwhile, plans to introduce an amendment requiring a rewrite of the bill to include this language. Only four Republican votes would be needed to pass it.The upshot, per other reports, is that Republicans on Capitol Hill are privately enraged at Trump for constantly tripping up not only their priorities, but his own.
The American Economic Liberties Project and Groundwork Collaborative on Wednesday released a joint report detailing how President Donald Trump’s unprecedented corruption is padding his own pockets at the expense of US taxpayers.The report—titled “The Price of Corruption: How Trump’s Pay-to-Play Administration is Driving Up Costs for Working Families”—explains how Trump isn’t just using the presidency to enrich himself, but leaving ordinary Americans to foot the bill for his corrupt dealings.The report notes that the TrumpRx website, which purports to offer Americans deep discounts on drugs, is actually a scheme for funneling even more money to large pharmaceutical companies.“When Trump rolled out TrumpRX earlier this year, the administration claimed it was a way for Americans to access more affordable prescription drugs,” the report states. “Instead, the platform fails to disclose information about less expensive generic alternatives and, in some instances, charges consumers more for products that are available for less elsewhere.”Rather than providing real relief, the report charges, TrumpRx “serves as free advertisement for Big Pharma and may be lining the pockets of the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who is on the board of prescription drug platform BlinkRX, which stands to benefit from the administration’s promotion of direct-to-patient medicine sales.”The report also highlights the way that Trump has used his tariffs, which raise the cost of imported goods for US consumers, as a personal self-enrichment tool, such as when he slashed tariffs on Switzerland “just a few days after Swiss business leaders presented him with a personalized gold bar worth more than $130,000 and a Rolex desk clock.”Trump levied tariffs against Brazil last year in retaliation for that country convicting a political ally, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, of plotting a coup to illegally stay in power after he lost an election to current President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva.“Americans paid the price for Trump’s international allies breaking the law,” states the report, “as coffee imported from Brazil surged to a 40% increase in price.”One particularly egregious instance of Trump’s corruption, the report explains, comes from the president’s unprecedented number of pardons of political allies, including hundreds of rioters who violently stormed the US Capitol on his behalf on January 6, 2021.Beyond the high-profile rioter cases, the report shines a spotlight on a number of white-collar criminals who have received presidential clemency, including Paul Walczak, “a nursing home executive convicted of tax evasion” who was pardoned “three weeks after his mother donated $1 million to Trump at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser,” and cryptocurrency mogul Changpeng Zhao, who received a pardon months after helping boost the Trump family’s crypto venture.The report notes that the Trump administration has also stacked regulatory agencies in ways that directly benefit the business interests of the president’s family members, most prominently in the realm of online prediction markets tied to Donald Trump Jr.“Over the past year, Donald Trump Jr. has served as a strategic advisor to Kalshi and a large investor in Polymarket, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)—the agency overseeing these firms—has acted as their ally, rather than their watchdog,” the report says. “Both firms had actively lobbied Trump’s CFTC to block states from regulating prediction markets in the same way they regulate gambling companies.”Morgan Harper, director of policy and advocacy at the American Economic Liberties Project, called the report on Trump’s corruption “a reminder that we cannot afford to look away or pretend that any of this is normal.”“The country,” Harper added, “is not Trump’s to liquidate.”Molly Claflin, senior fellow at Groundwork Collaborative, made the case that Trump’s corruption and the economic pain being felt by Americans are inseparable.“As working families buckle under the weight of Trump’s high prices, the president is further driving up costs by abusing his position to direct taxpayer-funded kickbacks to his family and political allies,” said Claflin. “His erratic policymaking is making daily life more expensive. Americans know they’re being ripped off and are demanding accountability.”
Dangerously hot, humid weather is likely at many of the 2026 World Cup soccer venues. We crunched the numbers to see which matches are most at risk.
Former first lady Jill Biden blasted a former Biden administration spokesman over his criticism of her memoir, View from the East Wing. She made the comments during a special event at the Sixth & I Synagogue in Washington, D.C. Andrew Bates, former deputy assistant to the president and senior deputy press secretary in the Biden […]
“Don’t defend the oligarchs, these are the citizens’ properties!” protestors shouted.
Thousands of Albanians have protested for four consecutive days against a proposed €4 billion ($4.7 billion) luxury resort linked to Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, on Sazan Island and the protected Vjosa-Narta coastal wetlands. "It's an unbelievable, beautiful, 1,400-hectare private island in the middle of the Mediterranean," Ivanka said in conversation with David Senra."We swam to the island, we went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated."Protesters gathered in Tirana under the slogan "Albania is not for sale," reported Anadolu Agency, and chanted "Thieves!" Protesters also called for Prime Minister Edi Rama's arrest. Police deployed water cannons against crowds that included children, according to Tirana Report on X. One protester said, "All the blood, sweat, and tears that our people and ancestors have fought for is being sold by a leader who has betrayed us." Albania's Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutors opened a formal investigation into the project this week, reported Newsweek, reflecting widespread concerns about environmental damage and government corruption.Watch the video below. Your browser does not support the video tag.
An addendum to the president's "settlement" of his lawsuit against the IRS shields him and his family from liability for any federal offenses they committed prior to May 19.